Five years ago,906Please respect copyright.PENANA22iz5RCbLH
February 13th, 2010.906Please respect copyright.PENANAUOKeIRX6Qc
Mpunde Girls Secondary School,906Please respect copyright.PENANA3FRgtZvm8n
Zambia.906Please respect copyright.PENANAut4S44l7hU
I gasped for air as I 906Please respect copyright.PENANAqJF0TCKz8P
quickly sat up on my bed, holding my burning throat and feeling my lungs906Please respect copyright.PENANAAP4D91raBt
ache as air quickly flooded in. For a moment, I thought I was drowning 906Please respect copyright.PENANApAZP6TBPMk
in water, but I was actually taking in air. I coughed out a little and 906Please respect copyright.PENANAyGiQkinZBZ
opened my eyes. The lights in the dorm were all turned on and the bunker906Please respect copyright.PENANADe9dRPYRuW
beds were all empty. For a moment, I panicked as I quickly got out of 906Please respect copyright.PENANAHuflj728RN
bed on the bunker bed below, looking around the dorm. There was no one 906Please respect copyright.PENANALDOwlXRysY
and I felt scared and worried. I quickly looked out of the window and I 906Please respect copyright.PENANAXld191pD2m
realised that the sun was rising up from the east. I couldn’t help but 906Please respect copyright.PENANAmI6KOo5JQw
sigh in relief, but then again, I realised that I was running late and 906Please respect copyright.PENANAWK26AEHhAG
my dorm mates were obviously hitting the showers in the ablution. And I 906Please respect copyright.PENANABCb1iOcsqt
was the only one left in the dorm.906Please respect copyright.PENANApw8R2eF7FQ
I quickly grabbed my 906Please respect copyright.PENANAElLTG6tje6
toothbrush, toothpaste, my bath towel and cloth. Quickly slipped my feet906Please respect copyright.PENANALOYWU9Be9t
into my bath slippers and when I turned around the corner of my bunker 906Please respect copyright.PENANADVzIh3KOfQ
bed to grab my bucket, I realised it wasn’t there. I sighed, this time 906Please respect copyright.PENANAtMKpWxsIYm
in frustration.906Please respect copyright.PENANAgkQ6NO0fYe
Obviously because I knew906Please respect copyright.PENANAiLt1MKtqqj
who took it. If it wasn’t my bunker mate, then it was probably one of 906Please respect copyright.PENANAFoxpse3Vec
the dorm mates. In my nightdress, I rushed out of the dorm and headed 906Please respect copyright.PENANAvpk9HDzjry
for the ablution. The ablution was one place where I found it so 906Please respect copyright.PENANAOFY7wZDbdK
repulsive to be in. Despite it being cleaned every day, it was always a 906Please respect copyright.PENANA5pHCz6ILmS
surprise how it gets messed up and flooded afterwards. When I mean 906Please respect copyright.PENANAnOm5bLOUcC
messed up, I mean the toilets is one thing you wouldn’t like to see 906Please respect copyright.PENANAcy20KOBO2X
first after you eat a meal. For a moment, I wonder if we really are 906Please respect copyright.PENANAizcGisdXsB
girls or sometimes we act like boys who like to leave a mess. We are 906Please respect copyright.PENANA98G8zJS3vh
“GIRLS” for crying out loud. And as far as I know, we need to take care 906Please respect copyright.PENANAN4T618v2x3
of ourselves and the environment around us. Looks like being in boarding906Please respect copyright.PENANAi947eJC6Jy
school, you get to know that sometimes things aren’t always what you 906Please respect copyright.PENANA04suELaJud
thought it ought to be.906Please respect copyright.PENANAjPvx9Nlmgu
On either side of the 906Please respect copyright.PENANAJzMaZ9T8E0
ablution were the shower side and the toilet side. In between was a 906Please respect copyright.PENANAhsDlKmpBU9
passage where people could move around and line up their buckets to get 906Please respect copyright.PENANAvYH6Sl8Lg6
into the shower cubicles. When it gets flooded, it’s pretty hard to move906Please respect copyright.PENANAENEbIqZtBT
around and many people have slipped and fallen. Trust me; it’s not a 906Please respect copyright.PENANApDR07FA3MB
pretty sight when you see someone falling on their back into the water, 906Please respect copyright.PENANAEIkRvX4sok
which was probably dirty. Luckily for me, that hasn’t happened, yet. I 906Please respect copyright.PENANAF5QL0TzEDy
wasn’t pushing my luck on that one. One day, I would probably fall and 906Please respect copyright.PENANAObAO0EnMWn
hopefully I wouldn’t break my bones in the process. At the far end of 906Please respect copyright.PENANA4ZUgzMcTPe
the ablution were sinks where you can go and brush your teeth and wash 906Please respect copyright.PENANAjXEkw6RasB
your face. And by the corner was a store room where we kept the cleaning906Please respect copyright.PENANAINagHOKRQc
materials for the ablution.906Please respect copyright.PENANAQuDaIagma9
I stood by the door of 906Please respect copyright.PENANA8Xu0dbzQg8
the ablution, and as usual, there were queues of buckets all lined up, 906Please respect copyright.PENANAkRIjKnpEIx
their owners standing beside them waiting for the shower cubicles to be 906Please respect copyright.PENANAlq2k5EfPbZ
vacant. I looked around for my bunker mate and I couldn’t see her on any906Please respect copyright.PENANAftpoWKLUhA
of the queues. I considered her to be in the shower and so I went by 906Please respect copyright.PENANAdNQ89BfQVT
the sink to brush my teeth. The ablution was flooded again and so as 906Please respect copyright.PENANAAMwSdiQSRx
always I had to be careful, taking a step at a time.906Please respect copyright.PENANAZxolILq0RK
When I finally got to 906Please respect copyright.PENANA6jdkZffOy6
the sinks, all in one peace, I suddenly felt a jolt of pain in my head 906Please respect copyright.PENANAT5ZQwvoGas
as though I was just struck by lightning. It felt more like a migraine 906Please respect copyright.PENANA6OBQI0F8xa
and I held my head, almost screaming out in pain. I saw a dark image 906Please respect copyright.PENANASnwqJbUTOq
flash before my eyes and for a moment, I thought the lights went off and906Please respect copyright.PENANAyQQODEYeWH
come back on. But when I looked around everything around the ablution 906Please respect copyright.PENANAIlQBdPUicR
seemed to be normal. Usually when the power cuts, we girls like to 906Please respect copyright.PENANAKAce8fvAsC
scream, a lot, except for a few of us who are already used to the dark. 906Please respect copyright.PENANAaW0TNN51yK
This time, that wasn’t the case. Everything seemed normal and I felt 906Please respect copyright.PENANAFqojCWMmT1
maybe I was being delirious.906Please respect copyright.PENANARkKYjkdhSz
“Hey, Diana, are you okay?”906Please respect copyright.PENANAYwf1lJy7vx
I turned to the last 906Please respect copyright.PENANANqFlumR1cb
shower cubicle which was closer to the sinks, and there wrapped up in a 906Please respect copyright.PENANAckYKQ5jdvg
pink towel stood my bunker mate, Christine. And just as I expected, she 906Please respect copyright.PENANArYdXH3eyUi
was holding my bucket. She slowly walked over to me, trying to avoid the906Please respect copyright.PENANAHI8M7k62f3
dirty ablution water from flowing into her bath slippers.906Please respect copyright.PENANAb5Dlf0kvef
“Are you okay? It looks like you just saw a ghost,” Christine had a worrying look on her face.906Please respect copyright.PENANAgamVlXhTZV
“No, I’m fine, just a little ache in the head, that’s all,” I replied, trying to act normal when I really wasn’t.906Please respect copyright.PENANAUY3SSRBTwx
“You had me worried, I thought you saw something like a ghost.”906Please respect copyright.PENANARq255Vq5jM
“You know I don’t believe in such things as the ghosts that haunt people around school.”906Please respect copyright.PENANAOB2H7EvUuF
“Well, you better believe. One day it might just visit you,” Christine said that with a laugh. All I did was scowl back at her.906Please respect copyright.PENANAHEE5cw4FU7
“What happened to you 906Please respect copyright.PENANA4EVrMbJUvY
today, anyway? You’re usually the first to wake up when the morning bell906Please respect copyright.PENANAWerVFd2ULc
rings. But today you slept like a rock,” Christine added on, this time 906Please respect copyright.PENANA7GyjOVSXTa
there was a concerned tone in her voice.906Please respect copyright.PENANAJUNZBslGaL
It hadn’t occurred to me906Please respect copyright.PENANAVPgQjPidSR
that I had never heard the morning bell in the first place. I was 906Please respect copyright.PENANANv024rBLCq
always the early bird and I was never a heavy sleeper. I was always 906Please respect copyright.PENANAPBvmr9vnno
sensitive with whatever sounds I get to hear. But today, I hadn’t even 906Please respect copyright.PENANAqCq9AwaQwO
heard my own dorm mates’ footsteps as they always rush out and into the 906Please respect copyright.PENANAOii0WVY4qj
dorm.906Please respect copyright.PENANATjKDXPyHNz
“I guess today just wasn’t my day,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders.906Please respect copyright.PENANA31f9GWs2l2
“Well, you better hurry 906Please respect copyright.PENANAEH2QCQp7qa
up then,” said Christine, handling the bucket over to me, “you don’t 906Please respect copyright.PENANAXtQ1P3DNgP
want to be caught by the prefects when it’s time to clean up the 906Please respect copyright.PENANADi0FLtiwIq
ablution. And that’s not how you want to start the day.”906Please respect copyright.PENANARjzq6DuDa5
I scowled again as I 906Please respect copyright.PENANAsnnz0qGuni
took the bucket away from Christine. As I mentioned earlier, the 906Please respect copyright.PENANAQ96aNstvir
ablution always get cleaned. And we the pupils clean it with the senior 906Please respect copyright.PENANAOQKs7SaVND
prefects as our supervisors. At 6:30 AM, everyone should vacate the 906Please respect copyright.PENANANVZkPeuWI3
ablutions so that the assigned group of pupils put to clean up the 906Please respect copyright.PENANAILXx0g1QiL
ablution should do their work. If you’re caught still in the showers, 906Please respect copyright.PENANAoli8cHwhPb
you would obviously have to join in the cleaning process. And that 906Please respect copyright.PENANAo3mI2aisvx
proves to be twice as difficult when you know you’re also assigned to 906Please respect copyright.PENANA85oAOWljfQ
another area to clean in school. As soon as I finished brushing my 906Please respect copyright.PENANAM4mbZpExu8
teeth, I quickly got out of the ablution to fetch water by a nearby tap.906Please respect copyright.PENANAMQF3lIG70F
Most of the showers never worked in the ablution, henceforth, fetching 906Please respect copyright.PENANAzJUsasTEiB
water outside.906Please respect copyright.PENANAQPTLfDAa0A
Luckily, for me, there was no queue and I did things as fast as I could.906Please respect copyright.PENANAaXMqgJrHSb
Afterwards, I went back into the ablution and quickly found a vacant cubicle.906Please respect copyright.PENANAzGfvoqrb6M
After getting cleaned 906Please respect copyright.PENANAs5CRmcMu4W
up, I wore my beige school uniform, clean white stockings and I had my 906Please respect copyright.PENANA7WCgGypCgH
black shoes, neatly clean and polished. I looked at myself in the mirror906Please respect copyright.PENANAeRCb83kI1E
and made sure my short afro hair was neatly combed. I had cut my long 906Please respect copyright.PENANA999g0B02cA
hair a year ago before coming to this missionary school. As usual, one 906Please respect copyright.PENANAEmhbrQANf1
of the rules was not to come with long hair, especially if was it was 906Please respect copyright.PENANAAwXLy4BsT9
permed. They strongly insisted on natural hair. I had to cut my hair 906Please respect copyright.PENANAY3Ya2PSAw2
when I was going into grade 8 and I felt it was pretty unfair. But after906Please respect copyright.PENANADv2vTwlemc
that year, I kind of got used to it. Surly they were just trying to 906Please respect copyright.PENANAH648wj4PfJ
promote equality amongst us, but there were a lot of things I never 906Please respect copyright.PENANAr2WC15odps
found amusing in this school.906Please respect copyright.PENANAt9LF0ckL5k
Mpunde Girls Secondary 906Please respect copyright.PENANANtqaeIzKtR
School, a Catholic school run by the Hand Maid Sisters. Located in the 906Please respect copyright.PENANAKOICOI7vI4
Central Province of Zambia in the town of Kabwe, but pretty much away 906Please respect copyright.PENANAVhjTql3Qys
from civilisation. When I say that, I mean the school is located far 906Please respect copyright.PENANAINmdF58dWu
away from town and deep into the bush. It’s located in the farthest 906Please respect copyright.PENANAu2oXE2pS4G
rural part of Kabwe.906Please respect copyright.PENANASS7vk7g7UI
When I first came to 906Please respect copyright.PENANAOaTvnabB2p
this school to write an aptitude test to go into grade 8, I was greeted 906Please respect copyright.PENANALQc5gSqrNv
by the lovely surroundings of the school. The lawns of the school were 906Please respect copyright.PENANAWGeiRC4Ytr
properly well cared for, and there were beautiful flowers everywhere. A 906Please respect copyright.PENANA9Vd20ecWLV
beautiful Catholic church was situated right outside the school grounds,906Please respect copyright.PENANABpGGXYpx2c
meant for the local people that lived around that area and for us 906Please respect copyright.PENANAG7Bc8VSkBM
pupils. The attractive colours painted in different Catholic symbols, 906Please respect copyright.PENANAIyPSA4CmFI
inside and outside the walls of the church were astonishing to look at. 906Please respect copyright.PENANAevomHTAZPN
It looked more like art in my eyes.906Please respect copyright.PENANA6kR31PlfZV
At that moment, I 906Please respect copyright.PENANATClUu1l8K9
thought things were going to get better in my life. The school was 906Please respect copyright.PENANADKTO7C3WRb
beautiful and the Catholic sisters and teachers who introduced 906Please respect copyright.PENANAqDiRbzS4MH
themselves to us girls and our parents, seemed so kind. And I was 906Please respect copyright.PENANAa3cUgGVgzn
Catholic, so attending mass wasn’t much of a big deal. I thought I was 906Please respect copyright.PENANArlukpkIuey
going to love this place and make it more like my second home. But 906Please respect copyright.PENANAjtAVcQb1vT
things weren’t the case when I got to know the school a whole lot 906Please respect copyright.PENANAh5BHKCtydM
better. I remember a certain friend of mine back home tell me that,906Please respect copyright.PENANAzksYjGOrUe
most Catholic girl schools in Zambia were highly recommended because 906Please respect copyright.PENANA3qX7jxO23o
the Sisters were strict and pupils are disciplined. As far as I had 906Please respect copyright.PENANAuojQZVOAi4
known, most Sisters were meant to be kind and loving, not strict and 906Please respect copyright.PENANAImq0bedVO9
mean. It looked like I had been stuck in oblivion for quite a while in 906Please respect copyright.PENANA91usSidWW0
my life, that when I got to know what my friend truly meant, it was like906Please respect copyright.PENANACsDEOpF37r
a hammer blow to the head. One's thing for sure, I didn’t like this 906Please respect copyright.PENANAtwvslbuu1n
school. Every time we begun a new term, I would pray for the three 906Please respect copyright.PENANAOvS4JG2po0
months to pass by quickly. Whenever I came back home, it felt like I had906Please respect copyright.PENANAKMkRRfq6v8
just come back from a beat-down, and as usual, losing the match every 906Please respect copyright.PENANAmXS4DTcKjm
time.906Please respect copyright.PENANAHv17KfwEES
The school was strict 906Please respect copyright.PENANAdtuxRRcrxp
and on point with their rules, I felt like a minion under their control.906Please respect copyright.PENANAIshJGFuAJF
Any little offense you make, they will take you as an offender. They 906Please respect copyright.PENANA8mPoJeC7FQ
were strict with how you kept the rooms and the surrounding areas clean.906Please respect copyright.PENANAU0JAj04Vsg
If they found that nothing was clean or things were out of place, 906Please respect copyright.PENANA3fbDzLqH48
whether in the dorms or in the surrounding areas, either one of the 906Please respect copyright.PENANAo8swt11Cxc
sisters or one of the teachers on duty, would call the pupils assigned 906Please respect copyright.PENANAPVaDcKY8tg
to cleaning the area or the dorm, out of class to go back and do their 906Please respect copyright.PENANA1x82T9p3vu
work properly. And by the end of the day they are given a punishment, 906Please respect copyright.PENANAIZF54YeACA
which was usually to weed the garden, clean the poultry shack or sweep 906Please respect copyright.PENANAPcBx759b9C
up the leaves in the orchard. To me, that’s like working twice as hard 906Please respect copyright.PENANAKyMSkmI6JQ
as you usually do on a daily basis. There was nothing you could do about906Please respect copyright.PENANAIRPsadjkPL
that anyway. That wasn’t the only that ticked me off sometimes. Most 906Please respect copyright.PENANAY0T0NHOiMF
prefects were mean and complete jerks towards us. It’s even much worse 906Please respect copyright.PENANAudba0WOZpG
when you were in a lower grade. That meant more work, and if things 906Please respect copyright.PENANAV78jWJ6deu
weren’t done right, punishment in the worst way, cleaning up the 906Please respect copyright.PENANARBov2UnRLb
disgusting ablution or weeding the entire garden, with your hands. And 906Please respect copyright.PENANAxPcCFrRr1m
they always had a special day to punish offenders. If you know you were 906Please respect copyright.PENANAFaupK0w1go
late for classes or attending meals and your name was written in any of 906Please respect copyright.PENANAKRWflYXboL
the prefect’s books, just know you will find yourself on the offender’s 906Please respect copyright.PENANAI9jqHeqDuv
list which is always stuck on Thursdays. That means after classes on 906Please respect copyright.PENANAV6gppNcLbA
Thursdays, the first thing you would want to see first is if you’re on 906Please respect copyright.PENANAJGsh74TXsX
the offender’s list. If you aren’t, then it’s just a time to relax. If 906Please respect copyright.PENANAyjTTYO1KdY
you are on the list, get ready to thoroughly clean up the whole school, 906Please respect copyright.PENANASdtvifGFLK
you aren’t going to get off that list so easily if you didn’t work. 906Please respect copyright.PENANARDQNDmNM1x
You’ll just find yourself on the other week’s offenders list.906Please respect copyright.PENANAZFfLyeG3OO
Enough about what ticks 906Please respect copyright.PENANAbaBjrBQQ64
me off in this place. It was 7:00 AM and that meant it was time to get 906Please respect copyright.PENANAhOWpHxR92w
to work. The way we were allocated to our places of work is according to906Please respect copyright.PENANA2ZOwg8AKu3
dorms. There are 10 dorms in school. The size of the dorm also depends 906Please respect copyright.PENANAhHv6pxHQqY
where you’re allocated to work. For example, the second biggest dorm 906Please respect copyright.PENANAGAVrsazRUy
called Dolores, which I’m in, usually worked in big places like the 906Please respect copyright.PENANATJBbkDc2PY
orchard. And smaller dorms like Xavier A, usually worked in smaller 906Please respect copyright.PENANAY6GuRA5S1y
areas like the kitchen area or the ablutions.906Please respect copyright.PENANA2Hxrb2rrj7
It was time to go to the906Please respect copyright.PENANAsrROw0ZXiz
orchard, and as usual, we were always greeted by the sight of leaves 906Please respect copyright.PENANAZAkB7AP4bp
everywhere in the morning. Most of the time, people would usually sweep 906Please respect copyright.PENANAaFrWbRLOvg
up the leaves with a rake, but here, we would use brooms made up for the906Please respect copyright.PENANA2RTUus4RhG
strongest tree branches. It was more than enough to sweep up the 906Please respect copyright.PENANAaT8JzJoBFK
leaves. So, we got to work with the brooms. Since there weren’t enough 906Please respect copyright.PENANADTbwJZkCw9
brooms, most of us had to wait until one finishes her potion and gave it906Please respect copyright.PENANA9fNAqQURh4
you. I was one of those waiting today and I stood under a tree. 906Please respect copyright.PENANAekKKnQM4CG
Christine came up to stand beside me. Our dorm prefect, Chileshe, stood 906Please respect copyright.PENANAglPrzr4SsJ
in front of us, doing her duty, to supervise.906Please respect copyright.PENANA7FnCOsbuxV
“Hey, are you going to tell me why you couldn’t wake up today?” Christine asked, nudging her elbow to my side.906Please respect copyright.PENANASIWMxWmdJh
“I don’t know,” I replied. “And you are such a bad bunker mate. You couldn’t even wake me up.”906Please respect copyright.PENANAd9Mwmrwmib
“Huh?” Christine looked confused as she looked at me. “I tried to wake you up, but you were as still as a rock.”906Please respect copyright.PENANA84UdUS3xE8
I now stared back at Christine with a frown. “Are you sure? I didn’t hear you at all.”906Please respect copyright.PENANAhzc2RXZTQj
“Not only did I call out to you, but I shook you too. You didn’t even budge at all. It was like you were dead or something.”906Please respect copyright.PENANA1XIhEkkRLI
I shook my head. This 906Please respect copyright.PENANAvPdYglrHCi
was ridiculous and Christine was taking it like it was one big deal. If 906Please respect copyright.PENANA3EbgtUFua2
she was going to start talking about ghosts again, like she usually 906Please respect copyright.PENANAQ4ComXikPf
does, I didn’t know what I would do to her that would land me in serious906Please respect copyright.PENANADly5eYxRrR
trouble.906Please respect copyright.PENANAxZm8ZWhEZu
“Christine, all that just happened to me today. It’s not like it’s going to happen again,” I said.906Please respect copyright.PENANAUgLuI3UzXz
“Diana, you had me worried,” said Christine. “What if you didn’t wake up?”906Please respect copyright.PENANAe4KZQsch4R
“But I woke up, didn’t I?”906Please respect copyright.PENANA7ZEs4ZqO46
“Somehow I feel that there is something you aren’t telling me.”906Please respect copyright.PENANALBXCYSQ03z
I grew startled by what 906Please respect copyright.PENANAnzxvWARva8
Christine said. I was just about to ask what she meant by that when 906Please respect copyright.PENANAf7roCEbbb0
Amanda came back from sweeping her potion and Christine was quick enough906Please respect copyright.PENANAFOCH78FSQR
to get the broom before anyone else. I could feel that Christine was 906Please respect copyright.PENANAhdsCv7sVTi
really mad at me and the confusing part about it was why she was taking 906Please respect copyright.PENANAB2g3rjxDUG
all of this seriously. If I wanted an answer, I was so not ready to get a906Please respect copyright.PENANAfJDmTQGFXo
ridiculous one from Christine. She was so superstitious about things 906Please respect copyright.PENANAdKFcoJmsXm
and I wasn’t coping with all of that ever since I first came to school 906Please respect copyright.PENANAe0m05L8YWC
and learnt mysterious things that I wasn’t even willing to know.906Please respect copyright.PENANAzV4HSLzqqd
Amanda came to stand 906Please respect copyright.PENANAAtPIUPjMHP
beside me as we watched Christine head towards her portion of the 906Please respect copyright.PENANA8Lz3009tYs
orchard. I drew out a breath of air. Amanda who had a bunker bed right 906Please respect copyright.PENANApDc2pNR9DP
next to Christine’s and mine, looked over at me. By the look on her 906Please respect copyright.PENANAeZxMvHv6sS
face, I could tell she knew what Christine and I were arguing about. I 906Please respect copyright.PENANAHaveebRnrr
wasn’t even ready to hear what she had to say. Hearing from Christine 906Please respect copyright.PENANA8HzSWZ41wk
was more than enough.906Please respect copyright.PENANAwDiq3g7OaF
“I wouldn’t be so mad at Christine if I were you,” said Amanda.906Please respect copyright.PENANApLs4p8ETcz
“I’m not mad at her,” I said, “I just feel that she is making a mountain out of a mole hill.”906Please respect copyright.PENANAHS3Ld46stP
Amanda folded her arms 906Please respect copyright.PENANAiqnFnX1ODP
across her chest and leaned in closer to me so that people wouldn’t hear906Please respect copyright.PENANA0wil0swmcp
us. “I was there when Christine tried to wake you up. You didn’t even 906Please respect copyright.PENANAyxknfJbyM7
move an inch. You just laid there. And you looked, I don’t know, dead.”906Please respect copyright.PENANAeLuqSWjyZJ
As far as I had known 906Please respect copyright.PENANANI0ZnpepSq
Amanda, she was one person who always aired out her honest opinions 906Please respect copyright.PENANAcJ4ctpPuVq
about things and she was one who wouldn’t even lie. She was quite 906Please respect copyright.PENANAw8RF5WxdEI
terrible at it if you ask me. I knew what she was telling me right now 906Please respect copyright.PENANAtJeYBtuJxI
was the truth. I swallowed, still finding it hard to believe what Amanda906Please respect copyright.PENANACWrDdY39K2
had just told me.906Please respect copyright.PENANAROoryxu46O
“If I was like that, why906Please respect copyright.PENANAPEA01T8rD6
didn’t you call the nurse or inform one of the prefects?” I turned to 906Please respect copyright.PENANAPOwLsFzgtg
face Amanda, her brown innocent eyes staring back at me.906Please respect copyright.PENANAL6zI5PEc1x
“Christine was scared 906Please respect copyright.PENANABtcFM3X0Pl
when she couldn’t wake you. She almost freaked out and I told her that 906Please respect copyright.PENANAHZATgSJ54C
you would be fine, that you were just in a deep sleep. I told her to 906Please respect copyright.PENANAXRLV6mvEuT
leave the dorm and that I would watch over you until you woke up. We 906Please respect copyright.PENANAybv0egCSiZ
didn’t want to attract any attention among the dorm mates until we were 906Please respect copyright.PENANAdovOXCvtJG
sure you were okay.”906Please respect copyright.PENANAk9SORjMkEw
“Where were you when I woke up? I didn’t see you and the whole dorm was empty.”906Please respect copyright.PENANAGPae9xmmv9
“I was standing by the 906Please respect copyright.PENANA6kcLWEOcdW
door of the dorm when you woke up. And to be honest, you woke up in the 906Please respect copyright.PENANArgvvEkrffw
weirdest way possible. It was like you were given CPR and was suddenly 906Please respect copyright.PENANAPepVFcEqOs
revived.”906Please respect copyright.PENANAtxu4jIBNk7
Now that Amanda had 906Please respect copyright.PENANARywvLCG2hq
mentioned it, I did wake up in the weirdest way today. I felt like 906Please respect copyright.PENANACUCw0Sm1Ou
someone had pumped in water into my nostrils when it was actually air. I906Please respect copyright.PENANA4oPq1QcIQg
could still remember my throat burn and I held it again without even 906Please respect copyright.PENANA5pEXRMIggC
realising it. I looked up at Amanda and she gave me a sad smile.906Please respect copyright.PENANAVO0s8p7LOG
“And you told Christine?” I asked when I obviously knew the answer.906Please respect copyright.PENANAcsx763OzmJ
“You know I couldn’t lie906Please respect copyright.PENANAjrHodDYbaD
to her. She was worried and she has every right to. And so was I. What 906Please respect copyright.PENANAi88X0AoChK
if you never did wake up? Have you ever thought of what would have 906Please respect copyright.PENANAjCImlsQMrq
happened if you had died in your sleep?”906Please respect copyright.PENANA3uSX6SargL
I took in Amanda’s 906Please respect copyright.PENANA0RAbVJxMqd
questions into consideration and I looked at Christine who was busy at 906Please respect copyright.PENANARh8ZnqdOsU
work. It was obvious that she was avoiding me. I swallowed hard and 906Please respect copyright.PENANAUhzMGhDPI6
stared off in a distance. All Christine was trying to do was help me out906Please respect copyright.PENANAPiwPjjOVa1
and I was acting like a complete jerk. But she couldn’t blame me for 906Please respect copyright.PENANA4xea07Sfdd
it. I didn’t even know what had happened to me in the first place.906Please respect copyright.PENANAdWiwZVi8hP
It was now my turn to go906Please respect copyright.PENANAI1h0ZPXKQI
and sweep as I took the broom from my fellow dorm mate, Chilufya who 906Please respect copyright.PENANAGzsf4X4EMd
was a grade ahead of me. I went to my portion under a few guava trees. 906Please respect copyright.PENANAR5X2yvITAk
Before I could bend down to start sweeping, a sudden wave of pain gushed906Please respect copyright.PENANA09zmexsjhG
down upon my head. The pain was so unbearable, that I almost screamed 906Please respect copyright.PENANAcGLZrcteX2
aloud as I held my head.906Please respect copyright.PENANAwRU07uuCn3
As I looked around the 906Please respect copyright.PENANAC0fJqmCMOz
place, everything seemed blurry. I tried blinking my eyes a few times to906Please respect copyright.PENANALNJHffBnLR
refocus my sight, but that didn’t seem to work. I leaned onto a tree 906Please respect copyright.PENANA0kCQg5twCr
for support and I soon felt a jolt of dizziness and I felt like I would 906Please respect copyright.PENANA3swRjv8Rjo
throw up at any moment. Soon, voices of concern surrounded me and I felt906Please respect copyright.PENANAru1tfEdRcf
a warm familiar hand hold my shoulder. I saw Christine looking at me 906Please respect copyright.PENANATpH5uUO9k0
and with our other dorm mates surrounding me.906Please respect copyright.PENANAPXKEzHRVb5
My vision was still 906Please respect copyright.PENANAQRlgrqbcOx
blurry and my head ached like hell. What was even worse was the fact 906Please respect copyright.PENANAlvAbPwjf3f
that everyone was talking and I couldn’t get a thing they said, not even906Please respect copyright.PENANAC6djfe7QYc
Christine who was right next to me. I felt so confused that I was 906Please respect copyright.PENANAbvRhiybe8a
afraid of running mad with all the noise. I looked around and I noticed 906Please respect copyright.PENANAFqWgmPlpnp
that my vision was getting worse. I could notice a few of my dorm mates’906Please respect copyright.PENANAJGrKupVBUJ
faces including the dorm prefect, Chileshe. I saw Amanda at the far end906Please respect copyright.PENANADc2JNZn4EF
of the crowd, looking scared. And I noticed someone standing right 906Please respect copyright.PENANAh0PdF2vsUI
behind her.906Please respect copyright.PENANAgXBFt5Yxw0
At that moment, my 906Please respect copyright.PENANAOWZtKTHCyQ
vision cleared when I saw the tall person who was standing behind 906Please respect copyright.PENANAoNR1fwnO4l
Amanda. I felt a burning sensation run through my body, but I was 906Please respect copyright.PENANAFf6rRG8CWK
sensible enough not to scream. I continued to look at the tall figure 906Please respect copyright.PENANAxgmys6bF8M
and out of nowhere, a flood of images rushed through my head in a quick 906Please respect copyright.PENANAng4PD3edM3
flash.906Please respect copyright.PENANAGkAWbuaPd0
Right before I could figure out what had just happened; I was falling into a pit of darkness, right into oblivion.
906Please respect copyright.PENANAszG8VJYxbs